He Stays Strong
by lchallengeacceptedl
Summary: What does he do when the basis of his life has been a lie and and an illusion? What does he do when the ghost he talked to every single day was alive but insane? What if he has to sacrifice to save the world? Simple: he saves the world. Spoiler alerts, 604.
1. Chapter 1

I tried to steady his breathing, to calm myself so I could think everything through, but my brain was in overdrive. My brain was in overover_over_drive. _How, why? How, why, how, why?!_ It defied all logic that anyone in the universe could ever come up with, and it muddled me. No one muddled me. No one but...Obito. One after another, thoughts flew into my mind, racing out just as fast.

_It can't be him. He's dead. Obito's dead. Under the rock, crushed. I'm his eyes. Sharingan. His, mine. Rin. Minato-sensei. I've been talking to the memorial stone for years. He's dead. No... Sharingan on the right eye. Scars. But the Rinnegan? _

A hurricane of senses that came from the heart was stirring up, tearing thoughts into little fragments that were big enough to make sense, but small enough to be insignificant. My whole life, I realised, has been...a lie. When I joined ANBU because there was nothing else but me. When I quit ANBU because I lost me. When every morning I spent hours sitting in front of the memorial stone, pouring my heart out. Pouring my heart to someone I thought was a friend, whom I thought dead. Put simply, I was dismayed. I felt cheated, for I had just wasted my life away grieving.

_I don't want this confrontation_, I decided. Fear opened up a yawning chasm in my stomach.

Somewhere in the distance, people were talking. Or were they yelling?

"Kakashi-sensei, who's that? Hey, answer me, dattebayo!"

... _I__mpossible, unthinkable._

"Kakashi, you all right?"

... _Somehow this is an illusion of some sort._

"Kakashi, snap out of it!"

"Answer me Kakashi-sensei! Who the hell is that creeper? Gai-sensei, he won't answer me, -ttebayo!"

... _It is, right? Someone tell me it is!_ I was desperate, to the point that my heart was denying what my brain knew was true.

...

"Hey, Kakashi..." A deep and rough but unmistakable voice said sullenly. "Congratulations on having a retarded jinchuriki, an arrogant asshole of an Uchiha and a dumb and typical teenager as your first team. I...brought you a little present to commemorate it, a little late in arrival just like last time, granted, but still a present. I hope you like it." The man's mouth quirked up in a sadistic slight smirk.

Hearing _that_ voice saying _those_ words snapped me out of my thoughts. I raised my gaze to stare at _him_. Staring at him standing there with his destruction all about him. Seeing that crazed smile and the madness in those eyes. Those frighteningly cold eyes that showed his delight and glee in this situation. Red and purple orbs that boasted of their powers. Was this really him?

Beside me, Gai swore, saying in a harsh whisper, "God.. Obito... The man is insane!"

"Lost for words?"

When I kept silent, he continued.

"You're filth, Kakashi. Dirty, disgusting filth." There was a pause as Obito glared down at me. "You liar! You said you would protect her! You _promised__!_" He was screaming now, his face contorted. The grotesquely scarred portion of his face was hideous. I was reminded of a beast. "But no-ooo. I'm the oh-so-great Kakashi and I give promises to no man. Are you feeling that great now? Are you?!"

_This is not the Obito I knew. This can't be happening, it just can't be._ My world was falling apart. Brick by brick, layer upon layer of cement, I had built for myself a base for my life. One I could come back to when I had lost myself. It was what raised me up and everything, _every_thing in my life was inspired by it. And now... Now it faded away into the wind, having been nothing more than an illusion.

Obito was now talking to Naruto. "-last obstacle. After I have the kyuubi, the world will have eternal peace. Imagine it, Naruto. There will be no wars, no crimes. Peace. World peace! You could be popular. You could be anything you like, even have your mum and your dad. ... You'd like that, won't you?"

Hearing this, I jerked my head around. Naruto's eyes were wide and I wondered what was going through his head. Then he stuck his chin up stubbornly, saying, "I won't fall for your tricks, dattebayo! Everything would be a lie then, how would that be nice? And...if you're really looking for world peace, you wouldn't cause all this destruction!" He looked around sadly.

Hearing this, Obito nodded slowly, seemingly annoyed. "Well, then, I guess I have to..."

"Obito!" I snapped sharply. Three pairs of eyes turned to me. "Don't do this... Are you sure this is what you want? This whole world to live in a lie, forever? Think for a moment, what if y-"

"A happy lie!" interrupted Obito just as sharply, "Don't be silly Kakashi. Of course this is what I want. I've thought about it for 17 years; I'm quite sure now."

I was lost for words, dismayed.

Gai nudged me, saying, "Kakashi, don't waste time anymore. He's not who he was. We have to stop him before it's too late!"

Naruto agreed, "Yeah, Kakashi-sensei! Whoever he is, he's mad! Come on, the fate of the world rests in our hands, dattebayo!" (Yes, Naruto acting cool again)

Somewhere deep inside me, I let go of something. Whether it was a renewed spark of hope, a tender raw wistfulness or whatever, it faded away. Another piece of me lost itself in the dark abyss of life. Resigning myself, once again, to sadistic fate, I said, "Let's do this. Naruto, use..."

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**Yes, I know chapter 600 is already out ._. I forgot to publish this but ah, heck. And, yeah, it doesn't have much substance. Just Kakashi's point of view on this. Chapter 599 was so heartrending when it was revealed that the Tobito theory was true /3**

**Un-betaed. Review on the writing? (: **


	2. Chapter 2

**_JELLEH GO AWAY_  
**

**Dear you, this was actually meant to be a one-shot but a few people told me it sounded incomplete, so I'm just following up, heh.**

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**—A week later—  
**

_"Naruto, stop! Control your power, this is getting out of hand!" Kakashi screams over the rumbling noise, trying to get through to his raging student. But it is to no avail. Naruto, in his Tailed Beast Mode, is gathering in black and white chakra with the help of the other eight tailed beasts._

_"You let Rin die!" A face contorted in hatred._

_"Do you seriously think like that?!" Obito shouts, gazing at him in disbelief. Kakashi remembers the father he lost. "Yes, that's right."_

_"We have to stop him before it's too late!"_

_"You're filth, Kakashi. Dirty, disgusting filth," He sneers._

_"What about _my_ feelings?!" Rin cries._

_The chidori crackles in his hand as Kakashi gets ready to make the final move. He stares into the seemingly endless darkness in Obito's eyes. He sees a desperation yet acceptance of his fate."The Eye of the Moon plan _must_ be carried out! It has to be! Even if we all die, it must be carried out." Obito whispers harshly, as if passing the responsibility for doing so on to Kakashi. Kakashi stops and licks his lips, then he closes his eyes. He cannot do it. He cannot kill Obito. Knowing it is a mistake, Kakashi backs down, trembling with the sheer effort of trying to separate head and heart._

_"I leave Rin to you...," He whispers as Rin holds his hand, biting her lip and crying._

_Obito stopped mid-step to look at Kakashi, saying, "While those who break the rules of the ninja world are trash, those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."_

_"I'm sorry I wasn't in time, Kakashi. I heard it all from Rin," Minato-sensei says gently._

_"I believe the White Fang was a true hero!" Obito states._

_Kakashi throws himself to the ground as devastation rocks and pounds at the earth. Dimly, he hears a simultaneous cry from Obito and Madara, then a piercing wail. Looking up, he sees a fading Madara and an Obito with his mouth wide open, howling his anguish._

_Noises; Screams, explosions and a destructive racket begin to overlap as they barrage Kakashi's senses and overwhelm him. They build and accumulate until it becomes a wild tangle of frustration, anguish and devastation. Images blend into each other until it is all a blur. Then one face overrides it all, screaming incoherently, livid scars swelling. It grew larger and larger, then-_

Kakashi had jumped to his feet, crying out. His surroundings had comforted him, as if saying, "It was a dream, it's all over. Relax." Sighing in relief, Kakashi then dropped back down to a sitting position. Rivulets of sweat had rolled down his cheeks. Wiping them away, he had found them to be icy cold. He sighed.

It had been years since anything affected him this way. Every time he closed his eyes, a disfigured face would fill his mind and block out all other thoughts. The portrait of a mouth open in a silent howl of frustration and the dark look of hatred in those orbs haunted him constantly even after the days that had passed since then, even after all the times he had learned not to care, not to be traumatized. It caught him when he was unaware.

So when there was work to be done, one would see a certain silver-haired jonin working his ass off 24/7, as if he had not contributed enough already. In the early dawn, water was carried to and fro from the river to the village by Hatake Kakashi. During the mid-morning, the construction of the new houses was sped up by Hatake Kakashi. Then at noon, who else but Hatake Kakashi would deliver the rations to the villagers? In the afternoon, villagers profusely thanked and praised Hatake Kakashi for rescuing their loved ones from underneath the rubble. At evening, anxious and worried-to-death families would be comforted and given peaceful rest by Hatake Kakashi. And in the wee hours of the day, a lone shinobi could be seen, doing all sorts of little practical things that people who tend to overlook details forgot about. Hatake Kakashi, naturally.

Because when he exerts his body to exhaustion, he doesn't think, and that works well for him. Because when he doesn't think, nothing, _nothing, _will haunt him.

These days everyone he knew avoided him, be it Naruto, Sakura, Tsunade, Iruka, Sasuke—well, Sasuke avoided everyone (except Naruto; no one avoids Naruto)—even Guy stayed away. When he passed by, they would smile nervously, looking at him as if he would explode any moment. And some days he felt like he would, not explode, but implode upon himself. He vaguely remembered studying something about air pressure and a container with absolutely nothing inside would just crush up. That was how he felt. His body hurt with all the work he's done, he did not even rest more than a day after the big battle before he started helping the village. And he was so empty inside, he was sure he had crushed himself in some time back.

So there he was, blankly removing rubble and digging down, looking for survivors, when he was approached..

"Uhm... Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi turned to face his pink-haired student. "Hmm yo Sakura-chan... I haven't seen you in a while. What's up?"

"How... How long has it been since you last slept, sensei?" Sakura asked, stammering slightly, as if she was afraid.

"Hmm... Not sure, probably... two... two or three days?" Kakashi answered, smiling. He seemed to be smiling a lot nowadays.

"What?! Kakashi-sensei, you're going to bed right now!" Sasuke quite nearly screamed, the previous fear replaced by the I-know-better-than-you-do-so-obey-me ordering around of the typical medical-nin. She grabbed hold of his uniform and started dragging him towards the area that held the tents. People helping out around turned to stare at them.

Kakashi chuckled, trying to untangle himself from the girl's grip, unsuccessfully. "Woah, hold on, Sakura. I'm not quite ready to go to bed yet." He remembered the last time he had tried to sleep, and shuddered. No, he definitely was not ready to go to bed. The image of Obito's frustration began to form itself again, and he quickly cleared his mind.

Sakura glared at him, her piercing green eyes promising regret. _She's becoming more and more like Tsunade-sama, _Kakashi thought.

As if she had read his mind, she said sternly, "If you don't go and get some rest right now, Kakashi-sensei, I'll bring the Hokage here!"

_Oh, great,_ Kakashi groaned inwardly, _Now I either go and trash around having nightmares or I face the wrath of Tsunade-sama. _Gritting his teeth under the mask, he made a decision and said calmly, "Well, send her over then." Following that, he smiled. And he made sure it was an absolutely infuriating one.

Staring at him in disbelief, Sakura was speechless. Then she sped off into the distance.

_Hah_.

Deciding that Sakura's suggestion**—**_command_**—**wasn't a bad idea, Kakashi walked over to a nearby grass patch (he was surprised there was still grass) and lay down. Almost immediately, he fell asleep, something that would have surprised him if he were conscious to be surprised.

About a minute later, Tsunade and Sakura arrived at the scene. Sakura was about to wake him up when Tsunade shook her head, quietly saying, "Let's leave him be. He needs the rest; he's been working non-stop for ages. Stupid man."

Sakura nodded, saying, "His speech sounded weird just now. I'll bet he was really tired." They watched over him for a while.

His silver hair had fallen forwards, hiding away the shiny metal plate of his hitai-ate. His expression, or rather, what could be seen from outside the excessive cloths, was peaceful. After nearly 72 hours of work, exhaustion had finally eaten away at the iron stubbornness of the workaholic, and he finally earned the rest he had worked so hard for.

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**Hey uhm so some people have suggested that I further this story even more, what do you guys think? Drop me a review or a PM! Thanks**


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